This is a rewrite of Chapter 2. I always thought there was something wrong with this chapter, turns out I was writing in the past tense when technically it should be present. I really need to check my work over better...
Q&A:
Can you update soon please?
Well I try my hardest to update. But these things take time… also I get distracted easily… very easily, also sometimes I have an awesome idea but I can't exactly put it into the right words… (stuff my horrible English and I was born in Australia...) also school work gets in the way as well.
What is someone accidently tore a page out from the book or burned it?
Good question. What if a page was torn out? Who knows? Maybe Amu'll have to skip that page, though the page may be very useful…
Disclaimer: Despite my wishes... I don't own Shugo Chara.
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Chapter 2: The First 7 Pages…
...
The wind was blowing around me and I am fingering the book in my hand. My whole body is shaking Right now, I, Amu Hinamori am about to open 'the' book. I can't help but shake. I'm naturally a very shy person and how many people will actually get to read this book? I can hear my heart beating really loudly and very fast to the time of Utau's impatient foot tapping. I put one finger under the cover of the book. Keeping it there waiting for the right moment to open the cover when suddenly I hear a loud shout from Utau.
"WILL YOU HURRY UP!? I have class to go to!"
I jump back in surprise and my finger loses its place in the book.
"I'm sorry, it's just that this book is How to Make Ikuto Tsukiyomi Fall in Love With You. How can I open it?" I ask, recovering from the shock.
"How can I open it?" Utau said mocking my voice, "Duh! Open the front cover!" She said pretending to whack herself on her forehead. Then she turned her face back at me and started glaring at me for asking such a stupid and obvious question.
I glare right back at her.
"Look, you have my permission to open it… So just open it!" She screeched and I blocked my ears with my hands. For someone who had a beautiful singing voice her normal voice was definitely not angelic.
"Geez, okay. I'll open it. Just give me time to prepare myself." I said. Opening this book is overwhelming. Just the thought that I will be one of the two people who will have read this book is very daunting. I am really scared to open the book, God could give me forever to open the book and I won't ever feel ready. So I keep staring at the front cover, not even attempting to open the book.
I heard her scoff and mutter something about it's just a book. I felt my eyebrow twitch. Why is it that every time I try to do something, Utau makes fun of me, mocking me. As if to say that I'm a coward that I can't do anything. I glare at Utau harder; I am going to prove Utau wrong. I am going to open this book right here and now… right after I go to the bath- No. I am going to do this. I am going to open this book.
I was still nervous so I closed my eyes and dramatically flung open the front cover of the book (well flinging the book cover and posing after opening the book is considered dramatic). I mentally prepared myself for a few seconds before I opened my eyes and looked down on to the first page.
"Oh yeah I forgot. The first page doesn't count it's not a page it doesn't have a number see?" It was a blank page. I disregarded it and turned the page. I looked at the first and second page and my eyes darkened.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!?" I screeched louder than Utau. People in classrooms stuck their heads out the window to see where the noise was coming from.
"Ow… my ears…" Utau muttered. "Geez, what was that for?" Utau asked, with a slight whimper in her voice. Pssh as if I was going to fall for that.
"THIS ISN'T A PAGE!" I yelled trying to keep my voice the same volume as before, though I swear it went up a few octaves.
"Geez well how do you think I managed to make this book so thick without adding a few of those pages in?" Utau said, while trying to pop her ears.
"… You mean to say around half the book is filled with pages like these?" I asked, while my eyebrows were twitching with annoyance.
"Eh. Give or take a few pages." She said shrugging and looking at her nails and muttering about how one nail was definitely shorter than the rest.
I stared at her. Utau is going to be the cause of my death. I sigh. Life is too cruel to me. This is definitely not considered a page. Not to mention Utau's excuse for a lack of any information is… well causing me to feel mad. I looked at the page one more time and felt my eyebrow twitch, it's obvious that looking at this page would do nothing so flipped the page over.
You know how when anime and manga character's eyes darken or turn to dots. Well that happened to me. The next two pages were just as weird as the first two.
"What is with these pages? These aren't steps these are common sense!"
"Look before I explain just read the next page." Utau said.
"Fine but you better have a good reason." I mumbled.
I flipped over the next page and there stood in black ink on the top of the page had the words: 'Step 3: Make Friends with Utau.' I could feel the anger rising within me and I am at breaking point. Utau's book had absolutely no useful information. This book is a gimmick, all Utau wanted was to mess around with me. And what sucks the most is that I had believed that this book would help.
"Hey. Amu are you okay?" Utau asked worried that I was now silent.
"Am I okay? What makes you think I'm not okay? Is it the fact that your book has absolutely nothing useful or the fact that I was tricked by you? Thanks for your help Utau." I said spitefully at Utau and threw her book right back at her.
I walked back towards the school. Utau didn't even bother saying sorry or try to stop me, instead she picked up her book and walked off as well.
…
Today's a nice day. The sun is shining brightly; the birds are chirping and flying in the sky. There aren't any dark clouds in the sky, only the soft fluffy ones that remind you of pillows…
"Hinamori-san" An angelic voice said to me.
I turn around and see Tadase Hotori right beside me with a soft smile on his face.
"Hotori-san!" I said blushing.
"Please just call me Tadase." He said still with the smile on his face.
"Okay… Tadase-san. What do you want?" I asked slightly confused that Tadase would want to talk to me.
"It's about the 'book'" he said losing his smile and instead his mouth was a straight line.
"Oh" I muttered looking down at the ground. Why else would Tadase want to talk to me?
"Listen, Hinamori-san, Utau may not have said it but the first three steps are very valid." He said with a matter of fact tone.
"How does 'Step 1: Get Your Hands on the Book' and 'Step 2: Get Utau's Acceptance' mean anything? Also the first two pages have absolutely nothing to do with the book." I asked. Seriously those are her first two steps?
"Those two? Ah well Utau thought she'd be nice and give away some of her special pictures of Ikuto to the owner of the book."
"That's her excuse?" I asked raising my eyebrow, questioning Utau's excuse.
"Unfortunately… yes." Tadase said with a sigh. Even he thought Utau's excuse was bad.
"Well then what about the first two steps? They're pointless."
"Actually… Utau has a good reason for having them in the book. I think you should talk to Utau about it. It's not my place to tell you about the book." Tadase said and put his hand out in front of me. Inviting me to take his hand and follow him to where Utau was.
I took his hand and he led me to a deserted corridor, deserted except for the one person leaning against the wall. Said person has long blonde hair in pig tails and was holding onto a book, three guesses who she is.
"Have fun Hinamori-san." Tadase said before letting go of my hand and headed back to our classroom. I suddenly felt nervous, holding Tadase's hand made me feel relaxed and the minute he let go a wave of fear washed over me.
"Wait. You're not staying?" I asked nervously, hoping that Tadase would notice the fear in my eyes.
"Sorry Hinamori-san. But you have to face Utau on your own. Good Luck." He said with an overwhelmingly bright smile on his face, before running off into the distance.
Then it hit me, Tadase had just led me into the lion's den and left me as food for the lion. God how I wished I hadn't taken Tadase's hand. Damn him and his reassuring smile that made me feel safe…
"Well, look at who's back." Utau said smirking.
"Well, look at who's obviously been waiting for me." I shot back at her.
"…"
"…"
"You don't really like me do you?"
"What gave that away?"
"Listen. I owe you an explanation. 'Step 1: Get Your Hands on the Book', may be a little bit late to write in seeing as to be able to see the first step obviously means you have the book."
"No shit." I said softly though Utau heard me anyway and shot me a glare.
"But also this book writes the step needed to get Ikuto Tsukiyomi to fall in love with you. So in order to 'Make Ikuto Tsunkiyomi to Fall in Love with You' you do need to get your hands on the book. Good enough for you?" She asked raising an eyebrow.
"Fine you convinced me…" I muttered. I hate agreeing with Utau.
"'Step 2: Get Utau's Acceptance.' Is quite valid, I mean come on if you don't have my acceptance how will you ever get your hands on the book?" She said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Then shouldn't that be step one?"
"… And also if you don't have my acceptance… wouldn't you feel guilty for reading the book?" She asked slightly nervous. Well she was running out of excuses and her last one was really weak…
"Utau… Fangirls don't work like that. As long as they can get a guy like Tsukiyomi Ikuto to fall in love with them… they don't really care about their how guilty they feel." I stated, since when did fangirls play by the non-existent rules?
"… Fine you win this one time…" Utau said grumbling.
"Anyway what about step 3?" I ask, she probably had a good explanation for that.
"'Step 3: Make Friends with Utau'… You know this is the real reason why get Utau's Acceptance is step 2… without my acceptance you'll never be able to accomplish this step."
"And please do tell why it is that I need to make friends with you if I have your acceptance?" I asked fake begging her for the truth.
"Friends and acceptance are two very different things. Acceptance you can read the book. Friends… I can explain clearly the details of the book to you. Like with what I've done with the first three steps." She said and to me that made absolutely no sense what so ever.
"Then doesn't that mean that we're friends?" I said shuddering at the thought that we were friends.
"Well I only explained because I felt sorry for you. Other than that I won't help you anymore… good luck Hinamori Amu." Utau said before walking off to her classroom.
I watched her walk off before she stopped and turned around and walked back to me.
"Oh yeah and one more thing Amu. Below Step 3 are some facts about me that should help you make friends with me." She said and walking off again to her classroom this time she stopped again and walked back to me once again.
"Sorry I forgot to return this to you… if you still want it…" Utau said handing the book to me. I took the book from her hand.
"Of course I do." I said opening the book to step 3. While Utau walked off for the third time.
I looked down at the book and sure enough there was a picture of Utau and random facts about her. Her favourite colour and food and other random useless things I couldn't really care less about. I sigh, this was going to be long. How in the world am I supposed to make friends with my enemy?
…
Day 1: Result? Failure
Dear Diary:
Well this is my first ever entry of a diary. I know it's a bit late to start writing in diaries… but I really thought I should start writing one. Seeing as today was the day I started my long term goal of making Tsukiyomi Ikuto fall in love with me. So I thought I should write a diary entry of my futile attempts. Today I started 'trying' to make friends with Utau that'll apparently help me with my goal. It says in the book that 'Utau will be a valuable asset as she is Tsukiyomi Ikuto's closest [and only] sister. She knows a lot about Ikuto and can give hints at anytime if she's your friend.'
So what can I do? Make friends with her. Of course as stated earlier I failed. Badly. I tried, tried is the word. I didn't make friends with Utau. Nor do I think I can, my plan was to be nice to her and not add nasty adjectives in front of her name. Unfortunately after so many years of calling her names and fighting with her… being nice to her isn't in my books. Instead I just naturally called her a blonde idiot and a wannabe popstar. Yeah that worked real well… anyway doesn't matter I have a plan for tomorrow. Wish me luck!
Amu
Day 2: Result? Nada
Dear Diary:
Buying things for Utau doesn't work. Giving her your desert for free really doesn't work. Instead all she does is make fun of me for being so nice. Oh how I wanted to kill her, however I needed to be friends with her so she can help me. So I ignored it and continued being nice to her, taking her books to her next class and buying her lunch for her from the canteen.
At one point can't remember what I was doing but all I remember is Utau calling me her slave and how she'd just got a new slave. That moment I just cracked it and… well… let's just say she was sent to the hospital… and I failed miserably.
Amu
Day 3: Result? No Friendship
Dear Diary:
As you know from yesterday I sent Utau to the hospital… so today I thought I would go to the hospital and attempt to make friends with her. So right after school I walked to the hospital Utau was at and every step I wondered whether or not Utau had forgiven me. Fortunately for me she had forgiven me and allowed me to stay in her room while she rested.
I thought I'd be nice and whenever she wanted something I'd go do/get for her. This time I think Utau learnt her lesson and didn't make any smartass remarks whenever I went and did something for her. However she also didn't say a thankyou whenever I did something for her… Well it wasn't that annoying that Utau didn't say anything. I mean I was the one that sent her to the hospital and well it's normal for her to hate me. So I'm glad for the result of today. Utau said and I quote, "You're not any higher on my friendship scale or any lower than when you began." Meaning I'm back to square one but at least I'm not lower than when I began…
Amu
Day 4: Result? Back to Square One
Dear Diary:
So today Utau's back in school. Turns out it was only a sprain and wasn't as bad as I thought it was. Unfortunately for me I can't get any closer to Utau as her fans have built a wall literally a wall between her and me. I can't even get within 20 metres near Utau. Seriously I am not back at square one. This is worse than square one. At square one I was at least allowed near Utau. Now if I want to talk to her I need to scream…
So today I spent the time convincing Utau's fans that I should be allowed near her. Let's say I failed that as well, it was only during lunch that Utau announced loudly that they didn't need to protect her from me. And what did all her fans say? "WOW Utau's so cool. Even though Hinamori Amu hurt you, you still forgave her even after what she did!" Oh how they suck up to her is disgusting all they want is her fame, money or her brother and the sad thing is Utau fully aware of it and yet still hangs around them. Well I need a new plan and luckily today's a Friday and have the weekend to think up a new plan.
Amu
Day 5: Result? What do You Think?
Dear Diary:
It's as if the world doesn't want me to be friends with Utau. I try so hard yet every time I fail and every time I almost send her to the hospital… again. It's so sad… maybe it's because I'm such an unlovable person? Today despite the evil death glares I got from Utau's fans I managed to get a decent conversation out of Utau. I didn't say mean things and neither did she, all we did was talk about random things just like two friends and at that point one of us should say "Would you like to be my friend?" However neither Utau nor I said it it's as if we were waiting for the other to say so… And that's how I missed my great opportunity.
Anyway I have realised something from this as much as Utau and I are comfortable around each other. Neither of us is going to swallow our prides and say that we'd like to be friends. I swear we're on the verge of becoming friends but because we've been at each other's throats for so many years neither of us is the first to admit that we could be friends. Hold on maybe that's how I'm going to make friends with Utau! Anyway I have a good plan for tomorrow… wish me luck!
Amu
Day 6: Result? Absolute Total Failure
Dear Diary:
I have given up. There is NO way that either Utau or I would ever possibly want to become friends. I decided the best way to make friends would be to go up and ask her. However my stupid pride and I can never ever possibly consider Utau a friend. And every time I 'tried' to ask Utau I always came up with another sentence to ask. Now these sentences aren't exactly nice… I hate Utau and she hates me back, so instead every time I'm about to ask her if she would like to be my friend I would say instead "Is that even your natural hair colour?" or "Utau do you think you're better than everyone else because you're a big time singer?" the worst one I asked was "Do you wish you have a romantic relationship with your brother?"
That's really gonna score points with her. Well it's not as if I have awesome friend making skills. It took me forever to make friends with best friends and I have practically no friends in school I only have admirers then there's Tadase who occasionally talks to me… Sigh there is no way that Utau and I would ever be friends even if we were the last to people on the Earth… she'd rather make imaginary friends…
Amu
…
Day 7: Result? Unknown
….
I didn't even bother saying hi to Utau when I walked past her today, because every other day I was trying to make friends with Utau I would smile and say hi. However today I just trudged along to my classroom with a dark cloud above me. I gave up, there's no way either of us would swallow our pride and admit we are friends. So I went to my classroom and I saw Tadase beside my seat smiling that same smile as when he had led me to the lion's den. I was still sour about that… but in the end it helped me so I guess I can forgive him…
"Hi Tadase-san. Is there something you want?" I asked nicely, hoping he didn't hate me for asking mean things from Utau. After all Tadase and Utau are really good friends.
"Yes Amu. Utau wanted me to tell you that she wants to meet you at recess under the big oak tree."
"Why can't she just tell me in person?" I said spitefully before clamping my hands in front of my mouth. Oops I kinda bad mouthed Utau in front of Tadase…
He smiled and said "It's fine. I know Utau can be a bit mean at times. Especially towards you."
I smiled back, "Thanks Tadase-kun I mean san."
"It's fine, you can call me Tadase-kun if you want to if you'll let me can you Amu-chan." Tadase said… were his cheeks a bit redder than usual?
"Sure. I have a problem with you calling me Amu-chan." Why? Can I make friends with Tadase but not Utau? Why oh why oh why can't I make friends with Utau? Curse my life.
But I wondered, why did Utau want to see me? Oh gosh please don't tell me that she hates me even more now and is going to take the book away from me? Dear Kami-sama in heaven please oh please don't let that be the case.
All through English and maths I was distracted by those thoughts of whether or not Utau would take away the 'book.' And when the teacher called me to read the book and solve a problem I blanked or more like I had no idea what we were doing and instead all that came out of my mouth was an uhhh.
Let's say that after that fiasco I was left with detention for two weeks. Seriously people worry more about their lives than they do about maths or English. All through class I spent my time staring at the clock hanging on the wall waiting for the bell to ring and each time the second hand moved around the face I became more and more nervous. And the minute the bell rang I rushed out of the classroom and found Utau leaning against the big oak tree.
"Amu… You've spent seven days not counting the weekends trying to make friends with me. Each time failing miserably, almost sent me to hospital countless times and actually sent me to the hospital once…" She said as if she was reciting something off a piece of paper.
I interrupted her "Maybe it's because you're so damn annoying my natural reaction is to hurt you."
"Look it's obvious that neither of us or going to admit that we even like each other." She said looking right at me.
"Or say that we can stand being in the same space." I added at the end of her sentence.
"Right. So let's just call a truce. I'll help you, but we're not friends." She said holding out her hand.
"Deal… as if I could be friends with you." I said while taking her hand and shook it.
"Exactly! Let's live life as two people with something in common." She said eyes sparkling.
"I see no problem."
"Neither do I so… read the next page!" She said too enthusiastically.
"Okay!" I said faking my enthusiasm and half-heartedly pumped my fist into the air.
So I took the book out of my bag and flipped it to the page I was last at. I looked at the page on the right and there printed in fine black ink had the words "Step 4: Read the book in order."
I looked up from the book and straight into Utau's eyes.
"…"
"…"
"HOW STUPID IS THAT!? 'read the book in order.' NAH YOU READ A BOOK BACK TO FRONT!!!" I said mocking her voice.
"Hey, hey. It's very valid. You need to read the book in order otherwise it doesn't make sense. Also as stupid and obvious as it may be it also happens to be very true. There are many things in there that you need to read in order and if you jump from page to page you'll miss a lot."
"… Fine." I mumbled. I can't believe how Utau managed to make 'that' make sense. Utau had freakish powers of persuasion. Damn Utau and her freakish persuasive abilities managed to persuade me that, that stupid page actually made sense.
I looked at her one last time and a small smirk was forming on her face… Something was up. Why would Utau be smirking? Being the naïve person that I was I ignored it and looked back down at the book and flipped a page over. Hopefully this page would be more informative than the last. And oh how God loves to contradict me. The page I was looking at was another one of those pages filled with pictures of Ikuto. Though as hot as he may look it definitely wasn't what I was expecting or looking for.
I looked up at Utau and she was looking at me innocently while whistling. She knew what was coming after I read step 4. She knew that it was a page of Ikuto pictures and she knew exactly how I was feeling. I sighed, how in the world am I going to put up with this?
…
Omake:
"Hey Utau…"
"Yes?"
"Just wondering… Have you memorised every single page in the book?"
"…"
"…"
"Maybe…"
…
End
Now my head doesn't have all the pages planned out so if you have any suggestions just tell me okay? I like people helping me so yeah just PM or review… reviews are nice. So just do what you think is best… no pressure.
Anyway that story turned out different then I thought… Amu wasn't supposed to get mad at Utau but it worked better that way. Also sorry for turning it into a diary mode story half way but I thought it would be better to do it that way… next chapter won't be written like a diary but instead it'll be like an actually story…
Rubii.